short balls: james blake splits with prince, tennis in india, geeking out over k-swiss, etc.

More bumps on Blake’s road: Prince and James Blake have parted sponsorship ways. The culprit? Blake couldn’t get used to the company’s racquet technology. The interesting twist: instead of keeping this mum and having Blake fulfill his contract (easily remedied by stenciling Prince’s logo on the strings of Blake’s Dunlop racquets), they decided to scrap the whole thing. (via CNBC)

China makes Macao a player:The Venetian Hotel‘s outpost in this Chinese island will host an exhibition match between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. The only other time they played on a world stage was at Wimbledon in 2001. Federer beat Sampras in that five-set, fourth round match. (via Earth Times)

Davydenko wants Austria:TennisReporters.net mentions that Nikolay Davydenko has decided to leave his hassle-ridden Russian passport (and not-so-ideal training facilities) in exchange for calling Austria home. If this goes through, rest assured that he will still look good while playing Davis Cup: Austria’s flag is two-thirds red (a flattering color on him).

Breeding an Indian Grand Slam champ:Mahesh Bhupathi hopes to have a contender in the field by 2018 through the Apollo Tennis Initiative. (via India Times)

Style.com doles out racquet advice: With the help of American pro Brian Vahaly, the fashion site lists pointers on how to pick the right stick.

Table tennis wants in: Who’s to say the sport can’t have it’s own Danica Patrick, Anna Kournikova, or Natalie Gulbis? We’ll see how they do trying to make ping pong more palatable to the masses. (via ITTF)

What are the bookies thinking?: Read this story about how the odds are shaping up for Roland Garros. (via the Herald Sun)

Geeking out over K-Swiss: Here’s a look into the performance of the company who’s banking on Kournikova to turn their ship around. (via Seeking Alpha)